University of Central Florida elementary education students discuss how to incorporate books, maps, magazines and other materials into lesson plans. The program earned strong marks in a new national ranking.
Update: Florida State College at Jacksonville is challenging the NCTQ rankings. The school argues it only has an early childhood education program, but NCTQ included the school in its ranking of early childhood education programs.
The school’s dean says early childhood and elementary education certifications have different requirements, and the two should not be combined.
Five Florida teacher training programs have landed on a list of schools dubbed “substandard,” according to a new national ranking of education programs.
Five Florida schools earned a “consumer warning” label from NCTQ.
“Teacher candidates are unlikely to gain much, if any, of value in return for their investment,” the report says. “Further, school districts should be aware that in our view these programs only provide minimal, substandard training to their candidates.”
Those schools are: Chipola College; Edison State College; Florida State College At Jacksonville; Northwest Florida State College; and St. Petersburg College.
One Florida school was singled out for praise: The University of Central Florida. The report named UCF to its honor roll for secondary education programs with low tuition. The school also earned the highest rating in the nation for special education training.
P.G. Schafer, a Tea Party member, holds a sign to protest Common Core across the street from Marion Technical Institute where school administrators were meeting on Southeast Fort King Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
Opponents of new education standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states are planning an Orlando protest later this month, according to an invitation sent to StateImpact Florida.
And Washington, D.C.-based non-profit FreedomWorks will hold a session to educate and train activists opposed to the standards the same day.
Florida Parents Against The Common Core are organizing the event. The protest will be held June 29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes.
Known as Common Core, the standards have drawn criticism from those on the political right and left across the country. Critics worry the standards aren’t as good as current standards in some states and will mean a loss of local control over education. They also worry about the cost and emphasis on standardized testing.
Sarasota County middle school students work on math problems in a “classroom of tomorrow.”
Actress Mayim Bialik works on algebra problems with Sarasota County students.
Sarasota County middle school math teacher Brenda Fuoco, in 2013.
Actress Mayim Bialik works on math problems with Sarasota County middle school students (from left) Amanda Folsom, Daphne Waggener and Gracie Brasacchio.
Chris Pfahler, who manages the STEMsmart program for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
The stories talk to teachers rated “most effective” about how they approach the job, analyze if there is a correlation between evaluations and pay and gives readers interactive ways to explore state and school evaluation data.
Ohio has a statewide teacher evaluation that makes it easier to compare teacher scores — known as value-added — across district lines.
New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett is behind a proposal to keep education funding at the state levels and enable states to withdraw from Common Core.
A New Jersey Congressman has proposed a bill that would allow states to bypass the strings which come with federal money.
During a Common Core briefing at the Cato Institute this week, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) said he would introduce the LEARN Act – Local Education Authority Returns Now. The proposal would keep education funding at the state level instead of moving it through the federal government.
“It’s time to return our education policy back to local communities,” Garrett said. “It’s time to start putting actually the students first and not anyone else.”
The bill would also make it easier for states to rescind their support of Common Core State Standards.
Miami-Dade teacher Jeremy Glazer will be writing about life in the classroom.
We are introducing a series taking a closer look at teaching and schools through the eyes of Jeremy Glazer, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher.
Glazer will be writing about the issues he sees in the classroom, such as the unintentional message about priorities state requirements send to teachers and students. He’ll also tap the Public Insight Network to find out what other Florida teachers, parents and students are thinking.
Glazer just completed his eighth year teaching and not only has worked in a range of schools, but has also had experience in the policy-making world, serving as a legislative analyst and speechwriter for Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson. He will be using this combination of views—a policy lens and his classroom eyes—to examine some of the complex issues confronting teachers in Florida’s classrooms.
Sen. John Legg, R-Port Richey, says he does not like the idea of a pencil and paper option when Florida is scheduled to switch to new state tests in 2015.
Florida shouldn’t have one group of students taking the next generation standardized test online while other students use pencil and paper versions, according to the chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
Sen. John Legg, R-Port Richey, said students should all be taking the same kind of test.
“I have some great reservations about having two types of tests,” Legg said. “We need to phase out the paper and pencil and we need to phase in the digital. I’m in the camp of we need to do all digital and we need to do it all at once.”
The projects are part of the Florida Department of Children and Families Camps for Champions.
“Many foster children don’t have the same opportunities to travel and learn new activities like their peers do,” said football star Derrick Brooks, who helped launch the camps in St. Petersburg this week. “These camps give them those opportunities.”
At the kick-off camp, 30 kids learned STEM skills in St. Pete. Campers in Jacksonville are teaming up to build robots this week.
Editor’s note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Karelia Arauz.
The school year has ended and the summer job hunt for many teenagers is on, but with unemployment rates at about 16 percent for people ages 16-24 how can you make your resume stand out?
imagerymajestic / freedigitalphotos.net
Don't freak out. Finding a summer job is tough in this market, but it's not hopeless.
The job market might be tough, but it’s not hopeless.
We spoke with five employment experts who have advice for students in search of summer jobs.
Highlight classroom experience, especially STEM skills
“The problem is that with many people being out of work, a lot of experienced workers—people with degrees—are working in the jobs that the youth might have qualified for,” says Jacinta Straus, a youth coordinator with the Workforce Florida system.
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